It’s easy to be focused solely on what is going on within your business and manufacturing company without being sufficiently aware of and responsive to the vast outside factors that play an important role as well. External factors and general trends of the entire business and manufacturing world also create challenges for manufacturers. In particular, for manufacturers just like you, these are related to the economy and global market. Let’s take a closer look at what your company will need to defend against and how ERP is your best offensive strategy to tackle these issues:

Issues related to the economy:

• Achieving a competitive advantage as a manufacturing firm with increased quality of products and services (which ends up limiting the range of products able to be offered or that can only be offered to a certain niche or narrow market based on costs)
• Despite margins narrowing, maintaining a solid bottom line that can handle rising costs and an ever-increasing number of lower-cost manufacturers throughout the world that are now competitors
• Enhancing speed of response, flexibility, and efficiency in order to meet expectations brought on by customers with regards to lead-times, service quality, and commitments

These economic challenges are a result of large-scale fierce competition that has reached a global level and is a response to ever-intensifying customer requirements and expectations that come in response to the economic crises we’ve all faced over the past several years.

Challenges of an ever-increasing global market:

• Globalized trade and international development necessitating the need for companies to be more clued in to different rules and tools if they want to grow
• Companies needing to implement global production processes in order to keep up with distribution and extended production chains
• Shifting consumer behavior because of access to not just local but global products
• Overall technical progress causing shrinking product lifecycles because of constantly evolving and quickly accessible new technologies
• Changing legislation and increasing environmental compliance standards that need to be met but require extra checks and controls throughout the production and shipping process
• Outsourcing production while diversifying products, extending sales channels, and furthering options for customers who have ample choices in a global world
• Improving marketing and customer relations while implementing multi-channel distribution systems to reach customers worldwide

Design, production, trade, and logistics have all been transformed by global access to goods and a business world that is more globalized and less localized than ever. This presents challenges like never before for you as manufacturers.

These potential issues are many, but there are ERP software system options capable of handling all of them and responding to the economy and global market trends. Please contact us to learn more about how we can help you get the ERP system you need to tackle the challenges facing you in the manufacturing world and come out victorious as a business.